Be Realistic – in making your goals for the long weekend. If you honestly think you’ll be nibbling on Wasa crackers, cherries and yoghurt for the next few days give your head a shake. When the Dove bars find their way down to the dock, you might throw all caution to the wind and blow your unrealistic plans out your ear. It’s all about finding balance in partaking is some of the indulgences without totally indulgence.

Be Prepared – just like a Girl Guides without the hideous uniform! If you’re heading away with a group, take some control by bringing food you enjoy, that still fit into your regimen. If you’re too extreme, the saboteurs will be all over you like white on rice.

Find Your Center – by finding some quiet time. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of finding solitude amongst all the noise and flurry of activity even if you find yourself at a quiet lake. I don’t care where you find it – in the woods, in the out-house, in the car, in the lake or in your room. Doing this helps you plan, cool your head, regroup and relax.

Think Before you Pour – when happy hour begins. For some, every hour is happy hour, it would seem. It’s nice to partake in the fun, but remember drinks, especially alcohol have calories too. Say hands down to bottoms up occasionally and work in some bubbly….mineral water that is.

Take a Jump in the Lake – and do some activities YOU enjoy. Are you the one who does all the planning for everyone?? It’s your long weekend too. I’m sure unless you have little kiddies under foot your group can work out the party hearty without your 2 cents worth day in and day out. How on earth do they survive without you when they’re at school, at work, etc?? Trust me, they just do. Relinquish some of your power and take the reigns to enjoy yourself.

Keep it Real – with the activities you plan to partake in, whether it’s rock climbing, water skiing, hiking, etc. If you have a sedentary job like me scaling a rock might be a bit ambitious. You might end up with an injury or two which’ll set you 3 steps back on your exercise regimen. Just like landing on a snake on the Snakes and Ladders game of old. Trust me. For many of us those glory days are over doing barefoot water skiing, one handed. Keep your head and ego in check so you don’t have to crawl out of bed the next morning.

Tune in to Your Cues – with hunger and satiety occasionally. Ok it’ll probably be the last thing on your mind, but thinking about this once in a while might save you from polishing off the last of the Krispy Creams.

Get in the Drivers Seat – especially if you’re over 21 years old. If you blame others for your over indulgences think again. If it’s your hand going to your mouth with a fork attached, chances are you might be guilty as charged. This is often the case when emotional eating is involved by reverting back to some other place in time mentally. Eating too much won’t spite anyone else, but yourself. Take some extra quiet time to find your center.

You want your long weekend to begin and end with a big Whoooo-Hooo not a big Booo-Hooo with your stomach sticking out a country mile and your rings not fitting because you’re retaining too much water. Planning ahead makes good sense. You’ll be that much further ahead once the weekend’s over.

Vitamin A – You’re Adorable
Getting your dark green veggies punches up your Vitamin A intake which helps as your hair’s natural conditioner.

Vitamin B – You’re so Beautiful
Foods loaded with B vitamins vary from whole grains, eggs, nuts, beans and peas and more. These slow down hair loss and encourages growth. As aging happens so does the amount of hair left in the hairbrush, it would seem?

Vitamin C – You’re a Creature full of Charm
Get those brightly coloured fruits plus broccoli to pump up the structure. Your hair’s proverbial weights.

Take heed of the nutrition your hair needs to get the most of your coif. Eating well helps your whole body, including the body of your hair.

Can this baby be any cuter? She’s pretty perfect from the inside out with the fountain on top – that’s for sure!

Had an uneventful entry onto the subway, closed my eyes trying to catch extra winks before having to keep my eyes open for the duration of the day. Then an announcement comes on about a smoke investigation at a subway station half way to my destination and that we all needed to disembark and take busses – good grief. Like the Mama’s and the Papa’s sing “Monday, Monday, ta-da….not to good to me….” The train sat and sat and sat some more while the annoying announcement repeated, repeated and repeated some more. It left more questions than answers to those of us who didn’t have earplugs in our ears One of the many benefits of travelling “ears free”.

Like cattle the weary co-tranistors got off only to stand in a sea of people with busses leaving the station empty with their “out of service” sign on with no staff in site or announcements of where to go. “I’d like to tell them where to go…” I huffed then one announcement ended “…thanks for taking the TTC”, right “thanks for nothing…” after which time they announce service had resumed and we the cattle proceeded back down for the second round of our trip, this time seatless while my blood pressure was in my boots. I felt like sparring with the little minx leaning on the pole I was holding onto. “One look at me little sister and I’m giving you what’s for…” For the love of peri-meno….

I exited at my stop and approached the stairs while the train zoomed in from the other direction. A big gust of wind propelled my long blazer behind me like Superwoman’s cape as my hair blew freely. Now ready to take on the world.

I got into my office with no one around with my project deadline bumped forward a few hours. Ahhh how do you spell relief? Then I thought if this is my biggest problem today, then it’s going to be a good Monday. I took off my caped cruisader goggles and got working.

And it was, a good day indeed!

Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which when eaten regularly can reduce your bad blood cholesterol level – you know, those LDL’s. A half cup of tomato sauce can have this affect. So smother it on and enjoy the goodness while reaping health benefits all the while.

I made my famous Tomato Salad recipe (posted in 2010) to die for on Mother’s Day dinner I hosted. This is my benchmark staple that they have come to expect and enjoy when the generations assemble at my table. It was smiles all around the table. Mother Natures lovin’!

They watch us you know
When we don’t see them lookin’
They do plan ahead
With lots of chores and good cookin’

I don’t think they sleep
And they worry a lot
They lecture sometimes
Specially when some of us got caught…

Oh those life lessons they taught us
More important than from school
Helped us manoeuvre through life
Head of the house they do rule

They show us tough love
And don’t follow the crowd
To make us rise up
To stand tall and be proud

Honor your Mom everyday
She feathered your nest
She deserves a real medal
For I know, mine’s the best!

Take last week for example, I had a bag of spinach beckoning to get used. Hmmm with some mushrooms, onion and garlic topped with asiago cheese – dinner for the pizza loving gods emerged with angels singing. See my pizza recipes in the Food Revolution section. These pies are to die for!

Get a load of all of the variations of pizza available these days, everything including the kitchen sink coordinates nicely. Serve with a side salad and you’ve covered all of your food groups in one go. Truly a perfect meal solution.

While I’m making a mess I routinely make two pizzas. The leftovers are divine for future meals (dinner or lunch) even breakfast on the go, if you must. It’s smiles all around and lots of “oh boy’s” with this dough boy, that’s for sure!

Cast aside the charts with the recommendations for the time being, cause it’s time to start small when you begin to step it up. Find three, ten-minute intervals to get off your duff and move. You don’t need special attire, just some comfy shoes and resolve to do the hokey pokey already. Whether at work, at home or at a mall just get walking.

Truly though, any movement is a good movement whether you walk, garden, do household chores, grocery shop, mow the lawn or dance to your favorite tunes. Aim to do this 3-5 times per week, working it up gradually. Remember that it may take about a month for the positive effects to pay off when you suddenly feel more energetic. In time you’ll be craving to get moving every day and for longer if you can fit it in. But at the moment let’s just focus on today and ways to get started!

Successful losers say they walk to help them maintain their weight and do about an hour a day.

Ingredients
washed, baby spinach
sliced Spanish onion
washed cherry tomatoes
peeled, quartered and sliced English cucumber
washed and sliced strawberries
slivered, toasted almonds
handful of dried cranberries
salt and pepper to your liking
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Instructions
Prepare the ingredients in a suitable salad bowl. Before serving season and dress it to your liking. Enjoy!

Commentary
It’s great keeping it interesting in the salad department. Change up your greens to the iron rich spinach, like Popeye used to eat to “build his muscles”. Adding fruit you have on hand with a nutty crunch tastes really divine, don’t ya think?

• your jumbo mocha frappe tazze non fat latte with whipped cream on the top
• a Happy Meal, no, you find the opposite after having too many
• doing a cleanse which is what our digestive system is built to do anyways
• eating on the run with a multitude of distractions
• buying in bulk when we don’t have the cupboard space to store the stuff (we’re really saving now, aren’t we?)
• allowing our kids to call the shots, rather than setting limits and doing things the old fashioned way.

Cooking is a lost art in our instant society. You can watch the drama of expert chef’s in extreme cooking episodes on your television with interest, yet pop a ready made dinner in your oven – and presto – “dinner’s ready”. Huh? Hey man, you don’t need to be Giarra in your kitchen. I cook dinner 4 nights a week and work full time. Everything’s straight up, straight forward, yummy and pretty easy to make. Trust me. When I entertain, the same rules apply. You won’t be finding any fancy soufflé’s comin’ out of my oven any time soon. I don’t serve happy appy’s before dinner because I want to be able to have an appetite enough to want to eat what I made. So I don’t fit in to the social circles, what do I care? It’s a simple system that works for me. Period.

And what about exercise, what’s up with that. All we need to do is put one foot in front of the other, repeat many times and there you have it – exercise in its simplest form. No, our society has to make a multi billion-dollar industry out of something that should also be so primordial.

• There’s the special exercise equipment
• There are the gym memberships
• There is shoe after shoe – for walking, for sitting, for sauntering, for tennis, for hiking, for basketball for golf – yes an endless supply of shoes
• Then there’re the special workouts – the 20 minute workout, Jane Fonda’s workout, the Flirty Fitness workout, then the dawning of palates, zumba and other new fangled ways of moving
• Then there’re the special clothes and the Lululemon brand – I’ll tell you what’s lulu – all of this special stuff made to do what humans are already built to do – MOVE!

So get back to basics people and keep it simple.

What’s even better about whole grains is they taste better than the refined stuff and help you feel more full because of the fiber content. Not to mention the improved nutrient content as well.

Check the label for whole grains to ensure you’re going with the grain. Try choosing whole grain bread, buns, wraps, crackers, bars and doughs. To help your family adjust to whole grain noodles mix the whole grain noodles with the refined ones and gradually change them over to enjoy them. Make at least half of your grain choices from whole grains. Enjoy!